happy

A few months back Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, delivered an address (audio here) at my alma mater, Brigham Young University, titled "Why Giving Matters." While focused on charitable giving and its multiplicative value on a nation's gross domestic product (GDP), it also tells us a lot about why developers contribute to open-source projects.

To get to the point as to why giving matters, Brooks first establishes that the more a people gives, the richer it becomes, though this may not be the reason we choose to give. Brooks takes former U.S. president … Read more

The evolution of the X-mini continues, and in surprising ways. This time, the hardworking folks at Singapore-based outfit XM-I have given their best-selling capsule speaker a music player and an SD card slot. What this simple idea does is turn the speaker into a clever little boombox that sits on your palm, with the happy name of X-mini Happy.

Based on the same design and tweeter size as the big-sounding X-mini II, the Happy is only marginally heavier and larger but a lot more versatile. CEO Ryan Lee told CNET Asia the modular buddy jack from the II will now be a standard feature, so you can daisy-chain as many X-mini II and Happy speakers as you fancy for maximum volume. Battery life is also expected to be similar at about 11 hours for the speaker, and roughly 6 hours for music playback.

We had a demo of the prototype in our Labs. It can play music files off an SD/SDHC card (up to 8GB), revert to speaker function, and even pull double duty as an SD card reader via a supplied mini-USB cable/charger. The Happy is a prototype for now, though XM-I said there'll be only cosmetic tweaks till launch. Following the jump, check out more photos of this lil sound machine which aims to make happy, happy music at its global rollout some time in early Q3. … Read more

Author Sarah Lacy joins us to talk tech, sexism, and elitist Fraggle Rock. Tomorrow, a special announcement. You'll want to listen live at 11 a.m. EST.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

There are scads of products that convert vinyl records to digital files on the market, but most look either utilitarian or like an old dorm-room stereo. So even though its retro look may not be for everyone, Grace Digital is at least trying to make its design a little more interesting.

The "Victoria Classic" looks like a radio from yesteryear, which may appeal to those who may be entering the Digital Age for practicality but aren't quite ready to part with their past just yet. One of three new models being introduced, the Classic can burn vinyl … Read more

...or just a workaholic?

In a poignant post, Seth Godin explains the difference:

"A workaholic lives on fear. It's fear that drives him to show up all the time. The best defense, apparently, is a good attendance record.

A new class of jobs (and workers) is creating a different sort of worker, though. This is the person who works out of passion and curiosity, not fear.

The passionate worker doesn't show up because she's afraid of getting in trouble, she shows up because it's a hobby that pays. The passionate worker is busy blogging on … Read more

Small children, folks of a delicate constitution, and persons suffering from PTSD: you may wish to stop reading now. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Perfect for your next Halloween party or reenactment of the French Revolution, this utterly disgusting severed head hangs from the ceiling, rotating slowly to display all its festering glory.

Choose from two: seriously nasty Severed Head #1 or completely repulsive Severed Head #2.

Wickedly unwholesome entertainment or a timely reminder of mortality? You decide.

What: Slowly rotating mechanical severed head How much: $54.99 Shipping: $12.95 Where: FrightProps When: Through unknown date … Read more

Back in early September, I wrote about the five finalists to win a combined $250,000 in development funding from MTV and Cisco, sponsors of the Digital Incubator contest for university-grown Web apps.

Today, they announced a prize even grander than the first--$100,000 in addition to the $30,000 finalist grant already applied to RapHappy.com's development. The social network for recording, editing, distributing, and commenting on user-generated raps won Digital Incubator's judges with a business plan detailing the nascent company's next level of growth.

Ben Leduc-Mills and Matt Fargo, both graduate students in New … Read more

With a freshly signed check for $30,000, some student Web developers won't have to eat instant ramen, that venerated mainstay of U.S. student diets, ever again.

Each year, five groups win grants from Digital Incubator, a contest co-sponsored by mtvU (MTV University) and Cisco to reward up-and-coming, college-age Web application developers. One project, cryptically called The Osiris Project, links MP3s to Flickr's photo library to create on-the-fly music videos tailored to a given song. Intrigued? So were we. Pull over for more about The Osiris Project and the other winners--including a rap studio and social networking espionage game.… Read more

The American public will get its first chance to buy the iPhone at 6 p.m. in each local time zone, Apple confirmed Wednesday.

Somehow, I don't think Apple and AT&T will have two-for-one specials on the iPhone, but my New York-based colleagues will be the first to see how crowds react to the release of the iPhone at 6 p.m. ET. Those of us out here in California will have to wait until 6 p.m. our time for the official release of the phone, in yet another blatant example of East Coast bias.

And … Read more